Bringing peace into my heart, my life and the world

Baha’i blowout!

“Blowout” was a favourite expression of a friend in grad school. He used it to describe anything that was more abundant than usual. So, in my quiet life, today was a bit of a Baha’i blowout.

First incident: Reading an article in The Chronicle of Higher Ed. Actually, an advice column about dealing with interview questions that come out of left field. The lead line: “So you’re a Bahai. What’s that about?” This, without the apostrophe, used as an example of the type of inappropriate, random question you can be thrown during a job interview.

How much fun (for me; for you too?) to have the Baha’i Faith cited as a cultural reference point! Even if it’s being noted as a slightly weird and obscure reference.

Second incident: Attending a talk, sponsored by my Office, of a woman’s research on Bedouin women in northern Israel. I have a lot of reference points with this location because of the Baha’i World Centre and my dad’s early years. I introduced myself after, thanked her and explained that I was particularly interested because my dad was from there. She asked if I’d been and I said yes, I’m a Baha’i so …

And she jumped in: “I’m a Baha’i too! Allah’u’Abha [Baha’i greeting meaning O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious!]!”

So cool to meet a Baha’i I didn’t know! We then talked a bit more about Israel, pilgrimage, my roots there.